Mormon Life - China tag

Tiger Mothers and Mormon Mommies

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:08:00 -0700

source: mormonmommywars.com

Mormon Life says: I need to read this book. Okay, let’s crack this blog open with some good old fashioned controversy. And who better to swarm around in a buzz of parental indignation than Amy Chua?

You see, I spent the first part of this week on vacation with my family, and I picked up “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” to keep me company along the way. I figured I should finally jump on the bandwagon and see what the fuss is really all about.

Now I know why so many people got so fussy. It’s definitely a fuss invoking book.

And it reminded me of a lot of Mormon mommies I know.

Youth from hong Kong and U.S. meet over video conferencing

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:59:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Jo da Rosa from the West Columbia South Carolina stake was traveling for business in Hong Kong, China, in October 2010. With a desire to attend Church during his trip, he decided to attend the ward across the street from the Hong Kong China Temple.

After sacrament meeting, a man from the Hong Kong ward approached him and asked if he recognized him. Of course he did. This man from the Hong Kong Sham Shui Po Ward was Richard Cheung, a dear college friend from his days at BYU-Hawaii in the early 1980s.

Church launches new Hong Kong newsroom website

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:16:00 -0700

source: Newsroom.lds.org

Only months after the launch of the Church’s Mexico Newsroom website, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has launched the Hong Kong Newsroom website: mormonnewsroom.hk.

LDS D.C. student wins Chinese speech contest

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:05:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Ben Omer, an LDS student attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., recently won the highest award in the toughest division of a Chinese speech contest, the Jiangsu Cup Speech Contest. He credits his success to skills he honed as a full-time missionary.

A member of the Washington D.C. 2nd Ward, Washington D.C. Stake and a native of Lehi, Utah, he took intense Chinese courses his freshman year to go along with his studies in international business.

Hong Kong district celebrates welfare anniversary

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:10:00 -0700

source: news.lds.org

It was a unique day of service on Saturday, December 3, 2011, when dozens of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the Hong Kong China District assembled humanitarian kits and learned about poverty in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Church welfare system.

About 50 members from three local branches, representing different languages and ethnicities, came together in yellow Helping Hands vests.

BYU seeks couples to teach in China

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

The David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU is seeking qualified couples and individuals to teach at highly respected universities in the People's Republic of China during the 2012-13 academic year.

Although most teachers are hired to teach oral and written English, there is an increasing need for professionals with experience in the fields of linguistics, business, law, economics, science, culture and literature.

How Mormons are using English language to reach immigrants

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:40:00 -0600

source: thebrooklynink.com

Mormon Life says: Reporter Omar Akhtar visits a Mormon church that uses English to reach out to Chinese immigrants. What a neat story.

Bing Ley asks me if I love English. The question takes me by surprise. I’ve been speaking English all my life and it never occurred to me that I could love the language. I tell him I think it’s alright. Ley looks down at his sneakers and takes his hands out of the pockets of his gray hoodie. He isn’t very tall but he hunches with apparent deference, making him look smaller. With an earnest smile, Ley tells me slowly and deliberately, “I…love…English.” With every word, he emphatically taps his chest and makes sure I understand him. He looks up at the two, tall, young Caucasian men, standing on either side of him. They nod their approval and one of them encouragingly puts his hand on Ley’s shoulder.

“How did you learn English?” I ask.

Ley once again looks at the two young men and with a broad grin and says “The church taught me.”

Letters in the Jade Dragon Box: Finding the Church in China’s Past

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:04:00 -0600

by Gale Sears
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Author Gale Sears did extensive research on China, and the Church in China, for her newest novel, Letters in the Jade Dragon Box. These are some of the discoveries she made as she researched that enigmatic country.

There are countries cloaked in mystery. One such country is China: an enigma of thousands of years of emperors, Confucian philosophers, peasant farmers and scientific discoveries of wonder. The winds that blow across China whisper of the Silk Road and the Great Wall, of the terra cotta soldiers of Xian and the Palace of Tranquility in the Forbidden City, Peking.

Author Mark Twain once wrote that “Travel is an antidote to prejudice and narrow mindedness.” I have found this to be true. As we walk the pathways of another’s heritage and culture, we become more understanding, more aware of similarities and less bothered by differences. And, with an LDS sensibility, we realize that all the citizens of the planet are valued sons and daughters of a loving Father.

In doing research for my historical novel, Letters in the Jade Dragon Box, I had the privilege of discovering a country with thousands of years of astonishing history, a culture saturated in legend and lore, a citizenry of curiosity and tenacity and political systems ranging from Emperors to warlords to the communism of Mao Tse-tung. The research also took me into fascinating discoveries concerning the connection between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the people of China: Apostle David O’McKay’s 1921 prayer of dedication given in the palace garden of the Forbidden City; the attempt to establish missionary work in Hong Kong in 1950, just after the communists took over China and just prior to the outbreak of the Korean War in 1951; of twenty-six-year-old Elder H. Grant Heaton accepting the call to serve as the mission president for the Southern Far East Mission in 1955. (Elder Heaton was one of the first missionaries called to labor in Hong Kong in 1950.) I was touched by the humble trust shown by Elder Heaton and his wife Luana as they took their three-month-old son, Grant Junior, and traveled halfway around the world to serve the Lord.

With permission, I will share some of Brother and Sister Heaton’s reminiscences of their time serving the wonderful people of Asia. To begin, Brother Heaton remembers the strange circumstances surrounding their call. As a missionary returned from Hong Kong, he had been called several times to meet with Elder Harold B. Lee and Stephen L. Richards, counselor to President McKay, to discuss and evaluate the conditions in the Far East.

“Still a few weeks later, I received a call from President Richards’s office, requesting another meeting. It was almost the same as the first, except he did wonder, out loud, if it would be possible for me to go to Hong Kong this summer. I assumed that he wanted me to accompany one of the General Authorities, or even a new mission president called to re-open the area. I knew that President Robertson had been urging for some assistance to continue operations in Hong Kong, which was then part of the Japanese mission. I told President Richards that I would be delighted to go to Hong Kong for the summer. He asked if my wife would be willing to go. Because Grant Jr. had just been born, I suggested that I talk to her about it first. He asked me to return in one week for another discussion.

“As we entered President Richard’s office, President J. Reuben Clark was there, and in a few moments President McKay walked in. He was very jovial and made a great fuss over little Grant Jr., playing and laughing with him for some time.

“Finally, seated in his large swivel chair, he turned and looked at me and said, 'Now, President Heaton, this is a very important assignment. I have long been interested in the Chinese people and the missionary work there.' For the first time it dawned on me that all this was leading up to me being called as a mission president. My first reaction of shock and disbelief impelled me to say, 'President McKay, I am neither capable, nor worthy to be a mission president.' He very causally replied, 'Oh, we are perfectly aware of that, Brother Heaton.' Our official call came in the mail a few days later.

“Our next surprise was to become aware of the immense territory covered by this new mission. President McKay said it was not only the largest mission in the church, but it contained more people than the missions in the rest of the world combined.

“In subsequent meetings with the First Presidency, we learned how deep President McKay’s interest in China really was. At the time we were set apart, it was mentioned that several attempts had been made in China, in failure. 'This time we will not fail!' he promised.”

Over the next several months President and Sister Heaton prepared for this new and challenging adventure. Sister Heaton writes:

“The next three months seemed like three days. It is not easy to leave family, friends and loved ones behind.

“President Joseph Fielding Smith, then the president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, and Sister Jessie Evans Smith were assigned to accompany us and see that we got started all right. Most of the general authorities were there to see President and Sister Smith depart and wish them God-speed on their assignment. At the farewell at the train station, the conductor had a difficult time getting Sister Smith or me to board the train. The train started to move. There was such a large crowd that I could hardly reach the steps of the train. I almost dropped the baby as I boarded the train. Sister Smith was still not on the train. Elder Bruce McConkie, (her son-in-law) ran and picked her up and put her on the car behind ours. President Heaton and President Smith were already on the train. When Sister Smith had to be carried to the train, President Smith muttered, 'That woman will be late to her own funeral.'

“As the train slowly departed, all the people, families and general authorities began to sing “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” It was an emotional time for me and also for Sister Smith. The meaning of the song was completely fulfilled during the next five years.”

The Southern Far East mission began in Hong Kong with eight eager missionaries being led by a very capable mission president and being fed by a loving “mission mom.” Over the next months and years the gospel net was tossed wide as Cantonese and Mandarin were learned, lessons given and baptisms performed. President and Sister Heaton would see the hand of the Lord in the missionary work, growth of the church and miracles for their family. President Heaton would be instrumental in securing floors of apartment buildings to serve as branch chapels and in purchasing a sizable piece of land in Kowloon for the mission home. In later years when Gordon B. Hinkley was searching in vain for property on which to build the Hong Kong temple, the following experience is recorded in his biography:

“Something very interesting came into my mind . . . I did not hear a voice with my natural ears, but into my mind there came the voice of the Spirit. It said, ‘Why are you worried about this? You have a wonderful piece of property where the mission home and the small chapel stand. They are in the very heart of Kowloon, in the location with the best transportation. Build a building of several stories. It can include a chapel and classrooms on the first two floors and a temple on the top two or three floors.' . . . I relaxed and went back to sleep” (Go Forward with Faith, pg. 481).

The Hong Kong temple was dedicated May 26 and 27, 1996. One year later, in 1997, as the 99-year lease agreement between Britain and China expired, Hong Kong went back to the jurisdiction of mainland China. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would have a temple in communist China.

As I sat in the living room of Brother and Sister Heaton, hearing many of the missionary stories and absorbing gems of wisdom about the culture, I could feel the deep love and respect they have for the people of China. Through my research I was privileged to open a small window into that beautiful landscape with its amazing people. My soul is richer for the journey.

World Wide Parenting Advice: Strengthening Families In China

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:30:00 -0700

source: millennialstar.org

In the spring of this year I was approached by an American woman who does service work in China, and asked if I would go to Beijing, China to help strengthen families there. This woman had been speaking to some government officials and asking how she could help China, and they said that they were worried about their families. Specifically, they asked if she could bring someone over who could teach people how to strengthen families.

To make a long story short, I was asked if I would go do this teaching for the Chinese people. Going to China to teach is no small task, so we considered carefully. After feeling it was the right thing to do for the Chinese people we agreed to go. However, then we had a new problem; money for the trip.

The offer for someone like me to come over was made in good will, and no money was expected to pay my way. I still felt I should go, but didn’t know how I was going to afford it. (At this part of telling the story I get tears in my eyes.) People, some I know and some I don’t, offered donations to help me fund the trip when they found out I was going on a good will tour.

By nothing short of a miracle, we raised the money for the trip just in time to go. Thank you everyone.